WVU Clanks Away Promising Season, Needs Focus!

On a cool Rocky Mountain night the sound of a single football page ricocheting off the upright, of a yellow goal post, signaled the end to a promising season for the Mountaineers. With heart breaking back-to-back losses WVU looks like a team much in need of focus.

I don't know whether it was poor game management or just the high altitude of Bolder, I'm going with the terrible clock usage! Not only at the end of the game but there were multiple times through out the game that were mismanaged. Is it Bill Stewart? No, its not only Coach Stew but also offensive coordinator Jeff Mullin and supposed Heisman hopeful QB Pat White. You would think by now White would know what to do as a signal caller.

WVU is looking at a major up hill battle to make it to a respectable bowl game. The plus in this is they play in the Big East, or should I say the Big Easy? Thanks to this they face a really soft conference schedule and have a great chance of winning the league. I look for no more than 7 wins the rest of the way, which would give them 8 total wins and a mid-level bowl. Think Gator or Capital One!

The Mountaineers will need a heavy dose of team focus to complete this season on a high note. I believe they kind of jumped the gun with Stewart's hiring. It was a feel good pick to smooth over the Rich Rodriguez debacle. More of a step back to the Don Nehlen years than a move to keep improving.

Everyone was looking for a breakout year from Noel Devine and with Steve Slaton going to the Houston Texans the team really needed that to happen. Not as of yet, Devine has only 47 carries and 274 yards through three games. Not exactly the lofty number he put up last year. Other than the open game, when White threw for 208 yards against Villanova, the offense has not had a passing attack. Evidence of this is seen in their 43 yards in the air against Colorado. It may help if he had at least one receiver that had deep threat speed. But with the best wide-outs averaging only 6.8 and 4.8 yards per catch there's not much of a threat.

The defense need to make improvements on early possessions as it seems they are scored on quickly but them shut down offenses for the rest of the game. If Coach Stewart can get them to come out firing in the beginning and stop some teams they have a real chance to reach that eight win mark and Big East Championship.

Looking toward this weekend the annual Coal Bowl with the Marshall Thundering Herd is coming and it may be a whale of a game. Marshall will be coming in high off an upset victory over a very good Southern Mississippi team and stands a real chance of knowing off WVU for the first time. Morgantown, WV will be rocking Saturday.